Do you remember your English 10 teacher? Mine was Mrs. Stroud and I couldn’t stand her obvious bias. The first essay I wrote I got 69%, and every one after that was within three percent + or -. I had 85% in grade nine English, and I got 84% in English 20, so I couldn’t understand how I became such a bad writer over that one summer. Of course my other grades weren’t stellar, but that’s not my point.

My buddy always got 80+ on his essays so late in the semester, to prove my point, we wrote our own essays and switched the names. I still got 71 and he got an 84. When I told the principal what we did, and how Madame Stroud was clearly biased, he wanted proof. Well, since in my time we didn’t have a home computer, I wrote on paper and then typed it at school. I always threw my paper away like it was some big accomplishment having it typed. Needless to say nothing happened, and Stroud hated me even more after that.

My point is, as humans we are all biased, but teachers (My mom is one, and she just got her doctorate so don’t take offence, teachers) and coaches have to try to hide and ignore those biases. Craig MacTavish has to find a way to put his frustration and bias towards Dustin Penner aside, for the sake of his team (and possibly MacT’s job).

Ales Kotalik is not working on the first line, and there isn’t time to find out if the chemistry will develop.

“I think you can see chemistry in one game, and it’s there or it isn’t,” said Thrashers head coach John Anderson.

Anderson is in his rookie season in the NHL, but he won four championships in the AHL so he knows how to determine chemistry and a winning formula.

This is not the time to send messages or get the point across to players. The Oilers are in a dogfight for the playoffs and they have only won three of their past 11 games. A few more losses and they will be in chase mode once again.

Ice your best line-up, your best possible combinations and go from there.

Put Penner back with Hemsky and Horcoff. Move Kotalik back to his natural right wing along side Gagner and Nilsson. Leave O’Sullivan with Cogliano and Pisani because they have chemistry and then you have Moreau, Brodziak and Stortini as your energy line and potential shut-down line.

If Penner has one of his “going-through-the-motions” games, sit him and promote O’Sullivan there and Moreau up to the third line. There are lots of options within the game to get guys going. Make it a healthy and competitive atmosphere. Play whichever line is going, and if it is a different top nine forwards every night that play in the final ten minutes, so be it.

Sure, Penner can be frustrating, but he has also shown in the past that after a benching he can go on a productive ten game stretch, and right now you need him to be productive. Like it or not, he is your best option on the first line. You said it yourself earlier this year, so go with you gut.

Kotalik wasn’t lighting it up before he came here, so help him out and put him back on his right wing, and more importantly play him on the left point on your first PP unit. Your PP has stunk for the past month. You are 6 for 51 in your past 13 games, so it clearly isn’t working.

You are six points back of Columbus all of a sudden for 6th spot, and that is the spot all Albertans want. Fans don’t want 7th or 8th, they NEED 6th place.

Our economy is in a bit of a dip, it’s not warm enough for girls to wear summer dresses yet, they’re trying to take fighting out of hockey, and the Oilers have the most clothed ice girls in the league. Give the fans something to cheer about, check your pride and ice your best possible lineup.

LOYALTY IS TAUGHT

While many of us have bemoaned that there is too much loyalty within the Oiler organization, yesterday’s actions by the former GODFATHER of Oilerville showed where Lowe and company learned it.

Glen Sather, who orchestrated and conducted the glory days of the Oilers, stood up for his buddy Peter Pocklington and forked out a cool million for Puck’s bail. That is loyalty.

Whether you like Pocklington or not, Sather’s gesture re-affirms the depth of the Boys On The Bus loyalty. A true friend is one who stands beside you in a time of need, and Pocklington definitely needs one, and has a pal in Sather.

I understand where Lowe and MacTavish got their loyalty from, so if anything MacTavish owes it to Lowe to play Penner and try to save face for his GM.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

I just heard on another radio station that the TSN curling had a larger viewing audience than the Oiler game. I just can't believe all the Oiler fans are leaving the team. Come on, we are playing well, we are well coached and well managed by two great guys, Steve and Kevin.
This team is ready to go on a 10-0 run, just watch. Fred will be choking on his rib bones during this run. You will all see.

Mr MacT has a very calming tone to his voice. That is how the boys play, very calming, sometimes it seems like they are too calm and sleeping but don;t let them fool you. Hemsky would never go offside on purpose just cause he didn't get the pass.

Where to start. I guess there is not much need to say anything about MacT. It has been the same old story for 8 seasons now. Juggle the lines and pray that the players decide they want to make the playoffs. Rather pathetic. Big hype on Kotalic... why? he has done nothing this year. Penner is as good as him around the net when he is trying half a**.

Roli the goalie... playing his butt off but why did we mortgage the next season or two for this 39 yearold never was? We traded a guy way younger and clearly with better skills than Roli away when the cellar is basicly bare in this organization for netminders. Sure we have a couple of good young guys but now we can't play him. Instead we ride a 39 year old till he is so tired he can't save a beachball. Now what do we do next year? IF Roli signs back with us for next year... big if as his family still is back in Ontario. We can't play him more than 40 games cause we have to get Deslaurier some decent play time or he is done. If Roli doesn't sign back and retires then we are left with two relative rookies in net.... great.... go Oilers!!

I find Mr Stauffer(Fred to some of you) full of information that I did not know. He is really good at saying the Oilers are good and also not so good when they play bad. He can even get away with being critical of Mr MacT. Mr Stauffer, you and Mr Tencer are really good together on the radio. Don't go home tonight, keep the phone lines open till late. It's o.k. Mr Stauffer, MacDonalds is open 24hrs now.

OMG! Just back from the game... many beers consumed... forgive my candor; but this is the absolute WORST Oiler Team I have ever seen to still be in a playoff spot in March! Why did MacT start O.T. with Pisani and Horcoff? Was he treating it like a 5min penalty kill..?...the shootout is the only option at HOME against a bottom feeding opponent? FFFFUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK! (Mom approves)

The ref's didn't like Fernando tonight cause he was playing so good. I don't know why the ref's are like that. /Best game Fernando played in a long time. He played OILER HOCKEY tonight. He needs to share the pasta he ate before the game with the boys

Sorry Mr Boostrom, I have to disagree with you. Mr Roli was probably the worst player tonight. Seemed to fight puck all night and then bad rebound in overtime. It was like he was giving it to them. Mr Roli probably needs to take a last minute holiday to Mexico for a rest and I think he can get a good deal for booking late. When he gets back he will then be able to carry Oil on his head to the playoffs. He can just go for 3 days

I sat in my spa. I drank more beer. Upon further reflection... I stand by everything I said. Promote O'Sullivan or restore Penner. Tell Gilbert to stop talking about being "Patient"....try being URGENT. Rest Roli. (I don't know when), but rest Roli...

Just a few thought's about our beloved superstar aleee....sh Hamski. tsn ranks him 30th among winger's. winger's not forwards. names above him on that list include. Louie Eriksson, D Sedin, Jason Blake, Bobby Ryan "yes kevin BOBBY RYAN", David Booth, Mike Ryder, Devin Setoguchi, and Ryan Clowe. Ya I guess he's our best player but I think he's way overrated by oiler fans for two reasons. #1 Two or three times over the course of the season it comes to the point where he's faded away enough for other teams to stop keying in on him. And when that happens he goes on a 4 or 5 game tear, and everybody suddenly thinks he's a star. Teams key in on him and he's back to his usual soft self. And #2 despite that he's still our best player. I want to see macktish fired as much as the next guy. (due to his inability to coach any kind of system other than givver bullet's boy's) But if your best player is your most inconsistant player, and one your softer players, can we really expect better? FMTY, "Fire Mac T Yesterday"
FPTB, "Fire Pathetic team builder"

Thank you finally someone sees what I have seen for the last few years.I can't agree more with you.As if there is no change in coaching for next season,I will refuse to watch the team I love.And that can start from the top too if Lowe can't see it either.Bad draft picks,Penner loosing good role players gone like Reasoner and especially Glencross. I can't stand Calgary but I tip my hat to Darryl Sutter as he is one hell of a GM. Just look at what he has done in Calgary.I am sorry as what has Lowe done to help this team this season? Not much at all.
And believe me I hate the Flames with a passion but you have to give credit to the Sutter.And if we don't find a goalie that can play here next season we are going to be in very deep trouble.As Roloson just can't play every single game.I hope we make the correct decisions over the summer, such as a Coach,Trades and Better Drafting the right players.Sorry for my spelling mistakes but I just write from my heart and don't worry if I make some spelling as this site is for fun too so please don't worry about my mistakes.Just read as to what I have to say.And I will do the same to everyone
Thank you for reading this and have a great day
D

Gregor - Clearly you are in need of some serious therapy over your problems with the wicked Ms.Stroud and reliving the gross injustices you endured by describing them in technicolor may yield some cathartic relief for you. You have my sympathies nonetheless. What all that personal angst has to do with the state of the Oil right now is not all that clear to me.

I have no sympathy for Pocklington or admiration for Sather for any number of reasons. I seem to recall articles from the period saying Pocklington paid Sather 2 mil/yr. when other GMs were making maybe 25% of that. No kidding he owes Puck alot. Personal buddyships should be kept completely out of business. In this case the running of a professional hockey team, namely the Oilers. If indeed you are a professional you don't put your friendship ahead of what is best for the organization by hiring your friends who have neither the experience nor the track record to get the job done. The last few seasons are a prima facie case for firing these mssters of nincompoopery. You don't hire just because they are friends. (See MacT Lowe, Huddy, Buchberger, Simpson Semenko et al). I've also noticed what appears to be recent attempts to rehabilitate the image of Glenn Anderson. All that aside, you do what's best for the organization, the team and oh yeah, the long suffering and long forgotten money paying fans.

That game tonight was an abysmal effort. The team is totally disorganized. It has been that way since training camp. I think the Oilers are playing worse as the season(s) go on. If I did something in my job 82 times within a 5-6 month span I'm fairly confident I would improve at whatever the hell it was. If I didn't, I suspect my boss would show me the door. I think it is time for some Oiler brass to be shown that door.

Huge difference between a 19 year old and 24/25 year olds... + effort is rarely the problem with Gagner. I could justify sitting him in the PB for a couple of games to rest/see the game from a different angle etc. But their is 0 rational to be "calling him out".

Slats helping out Pocklington has more to do with friendship and not the boys on the bus,I am sure puck made slats many millions over the years.Lets not forget if it wasn’t for Peter Puck Edmonton would never have been in the NHL.It was under pucks ownership that we won cups. I dont agree how he ran his businesses and with trading the great one, at the end of the day if it wasn’t for him we would have never witnessed one of the greatest teams in hockey play and thsi team would never existed.Didn’t the great one help out Mc Nall after he went to jail?

Sather profited from the hands off, look the other way policy with Puck's money laundering with Palm, Gainers
and other mystery invoices tha team was generating to government regulated business' that Puck had intersts
in....

In return for many years, Sather had an unlimited never questioned expense account, subcontract employees that were questionable and an attitude of arrogance that made him a winner in Edmonton, once he flew the coop from the review of EIG.... things were easy street in terms of budget, but the winner tag was diminshed.

Compare Slats and Lou Amariello, both ar cranky and respected - with Lou being a winner on the cheap and in the new era.....

Puck had Slats loyalty due to the rope he gave him in the eighties.. this is payback.... as puck has hidden the cash via his wife and other financial instruments
coming up with $1mm in cash when in bankruptcy is not favorable to the end game..... so Slats plays along with the optics of helping out his old mentor.

If Puck has $2900 - where did the $250K go when he sold his rings to the Dark Knight.... on auction..... hmmmmm
there seems to be a pattern here....

Man people talk about offense being the problem on this team… I think you can pin a lot of it on MacTavish, for all his constant line juggling, not putting players where they should be or would like to be playing i.e. more comfortable playing… This team’s problem is still defense… they run around like chickens with their f*cking heads cut off in their own zone the moment they feel an ounce of pressure.
I suspect it’s still all a part of the maturation process. And by God I love Stevey Staios, but he can’t be playing in the top 4, he’s a 6-7 D-man at best. They stil need a solid shutdown guy, who just wants to hurt people and throw a big hit, play D etc. etc.

I have mentioned this before and got ripped.....
With 7 or 8 coaches being let go this year...does this mean that DOHO has the lost the winning attitude and his integrity questioned... the playoff cut this year will be lower than the last three, the oil have a better record this year than last, but look at Chicago and Montreal proactively making changes to overcome an attitude problem.

No one has said this, but I really believe that the Oil have lost confidence to perform in the playoffs and are not confident to make the post season. If they make the playoffs, the team appears to be disinterested in making the first round..... why? - because making the first round means Detroit or SJ, if you look at the powerplay the last 10 games, it is less than 6%, that translates into a non winner - pack your bags, head to the golf course.

I cannot understand, and, if someone else does, please explain....When you trade for a player, be it Cole, Sully or Kotalik, should you not have a plan of where they will play, and whom they will play with? Should this discussion not take place between the GM and coaching staff? Should the GM, who is putting his rep on the line for the trade, not demand that the line stays in tack for say, at least 1 game? I can understand some line juggling, but at some point, shouldn't your top 2 or 3 lines be in stone? If you cannot score, shouldn't you play the guys who have scored together, together? This group seems to lack so much, but ya know, if they could kill a penalty, they'd be okay.

It really makes me look at the Habs, and sure, they haven't set the world on fire since the coaching change, but, we are in the buisiness of winning, so shouldn't we do whatever we can to try and WIN?????

To all respected writers, who would you rather have as your GM, Lowe or Sutter?

If the answer is Lowe, then you deserve the effort from the team he built night in and night out. If you think Sutter is your man, start spreading the word tha Mr Lowe must go.

I think Mr Lowe is probably a nice person, I don't really know, but I do not believe he is a GM? What were is qualifications to be a GM? He sure didn't last long as a coach? Mr Lowe won many Stanley Cups as he pointed out to Brian Burke, but really, as must as I hate Brian Burke, I think he is probably a better GM that Mr Lowe. And what does that say?

Montreal, Ottawa and Pitt all fired their coach so far this year and all three of those teams are better than the OIlers.

I just don't get how Mr Lowe can wake up everyday and tell himself he is doing a good job

To all respected writers, who would you rather have as your GM, Lowe or Sutter?

Further, you do realize that Steve Tambellini is now the G.M., yes? I was fairly suspicious at first that Lowe was still the guy running the phones and everything, but that trade with Buffalo went a long way toward convincing me that Tambellini is in charge.

Phil: 37 is back and looking good but they never did replace the first pass ability of 71. 44 can rip off the occasional good pass but the guy passes flat-footed for mucksakes! When you've got him and 24 paired, it's dicey.

I don't think anyone expected us to replace 71 and we didn't.

All that being said, it's the special teams that are killing the Oilers.

@ Dennis:
Your facination with playing Pouliot is mystifying when it has to be clear to anyone who watches that maintaining intensity is one of the Oilers biggest achilles heals.

Pouliot is the poster child of a guy that is playing as if he is just happy to be here.

It's tough to pinpoint but it seems that all or most of the players that the stats guys gravitate to all look like they are most effective in playing not to lose than they are in playing to win. No defining quality that they excell at but with manipulation some obscure random numbers that when angled right look like they are accomplishing something positive.

There are only 14 games left, with the playoffs looking more and more like a pipe dream every time they take to the ice. They can no longer afford to play not to lose, they have to start playing to win.

Pouliot is the poster child of a guy that is playing as if he is just happy to be here.

Have you watched the last ten games or so? Think back to, off the top of my head, Gagner's goal against Montreal. That puck only squeezed lose because Pouliot was in front of the net doing the dirty work, despite two or three defenders doing their best to stop him.

Is it possible to have Mr Robin or Mr Jason to ask Hemsky what is wrong with him that he is not doing anything for many games now. Is he upset he has no talent to play with, is he upset with the coaching style, is he upset with the captian and how they are running the dressing room?

@ Jonathan Willis:
You do realize that Ottawa was 17-24-7 when they fired Hartsburg and have went 11-6-3 since they fired him?
Considering they didn’t change their roster much - it would seem they found a coach that can get the most (or more) out of the players?
Maybe if they would have taken action earlier they would have had a chance. Now all they did is take themselves out of the Tavares sweepstakes….
I still want someone to answer this question?
When is the right time to fire a caoch?

I do see that, and everyone here knows that I've already called for MacTavish to be fired.

As a side point, the Oilers went 15-9-1 from December to January, and if Stanley Cups were awarded based on 20-games spans Montreal would have already had a parade and Ottawa would have taken it last season. I don't put much stock in coaching records that long (not to diminish Clouston's achievement, but it's pretty early to hail him just yet).

Have you watched the last ten games or so? Think back to, off the top of my head, Gagner’s goal against Montreal. That puck only squeezed lose because Pouliot was in front of the net doing the dirty work, despite two or three defenders doing their best to stop him.
Intensity has been a problem for him, but not in the last while.

Yeah that's great, look suggesting that a player isn't doing enough to help the team get W's isn't the same as suggesting that everything he touches turns to stone.

He isn't doing enough on a consistant basis, he has never done enough on a consistant basis.

This team is plagued with guys that show spurts here and there only to disappear for even longer stretches of time. Pouliot IS a prime example of that, he just is.

And Dennis it's a cop out to suggest that his feelings were hurt because he was demoted to the 4th line. To go even a step further it would be a pathetic display on Pouliots part if it indeed held a grain of truth to it.

And Dennis it’s a cop out to suggest that his feelings were hurt because he was demoted to the 4th line. To go even a step further it would be a pathetic display on Pouliots part if it indeed held a grain of truth to it.

True.

Rick, it wasn't a point so much on Pouliot's points scoring, just that he's going into traffic, going into the corners, and battling, at least from what I've seen over the past ten games or so.

I've called him a "headcase" many times prior to this season, because he didn't seem to get it (especially early on in the season), but this year I think his intensity has really been ramped up. I don't have any numbers to back that up (how do you put a number on intensity?), that's just from my eyes.

I've said before that I dislike Pouliot... for purly emotional reasons. I dislike Pouliot for not being Bergeron, Richards, or Getzlaf...

It's illogical, irrelevant, and unfair; but I still dislike him. You can't help how you feel. The thing is, this team will not live or die by Pouliot's performance... so why do we talk about him so much?

A mil for bail for Peter Puck? Unbelievable that Sather would do that!

As from personal experience, you only have to put up 10% of the bail money...... this is a no lose gesture from Slats as it costs he nothing in terms of cash...

When Puck has his day in court, his lawyer will argue that all of his assets were transferred to Eva many years ago.... the two bank accounts and storage account seem to be a tactical error..... dumb, if you are going to hide the monies - do it in the Bahamas or Switzerland.

At the next home game why don't the fans chant " FIRE MACT" maybe if the whole building did it we can get something done. But there are a few people who think he is a great coach. I called Dan Tencer and Fred last night. Tencer was practically insulted as to saying MacT is not a good coach but Fred ...had to leave, He did call MacT out in the last game though. YABA DABA DOO